Letter From Home

DEAR SON,
I'm writing this real slow 'cause I know you can't read very fast.

We don't live where we did when you left. Your daddy read in the paper that most accidents happen within twenty miles of your house. So we moved.

I won't be able to send you the address because the last family that lived here took the numbers off the house with them so they wouldn't have to change their address.

This place has a washing machine.The first day I put four shirts in, pulled the chain and ain't seen them since.

It only rained twice last week, three days the first time, four days the second time.

You know the coat you wanted me to send you? Well, Aunt Sue said it would be too heavy to mail with the buttons on it. So we cut them off and put them in the pockets.

We got a letter from the funeral home. They said if we don't make the last payment on Grandma's funeral bill...up she comes!

Your sister had a baby this morning. I ain't heard if it's a boy or a girl, so I don't know if you're an aunt or an uncle.

Your Uncle John fell in the whiskey vat. Some men tried to pull him out. He fought them off, so he drowned. We cremated him. He burned for three days!

Three of your friends went off the bridge in a pick-up truck. One was driving; the other two was in the back. The driver got out. He rolled down the window and swam to safety. The other two drowned. They couldn't get the tailgate down.

There's not much news this time, nothing much happened.
Love, Mom

Freedom

When posed the question of what freedom meant, a 10-year-old student's entry to the Weekly Reader's Operation Tribute to Freedom essay contest gave a thoughtful response, uncharacteristic of a mind that might ordinarily turn to skateboards, baseball and video games.



Text of Kevin Young's Winning Essay, "Freedom"

I am a ten-year-old boy living in the United States of America — a country that stands for freedom. Today, I woke to the chirping of birds. On the other side of the world, another boy is waking up to the frightening sound of blasting bomb.

It was a time to go to school so I chose to wear a T-shirt and shorts because I could make that decision. On the other side of the world, a young girl had a choice, too. She could wear a veil or get whipped.

Then I went to school to learn about our world, including math, English, history and science and technology. I was learning how to make the world a better place. On the other side of the world, a boy was learning how to fight in combat and survive or be killed. For the girl, school was not allowed. But she wanted to learn. So she went to school in secret, but was taking a big risk.

After school, I went to play soccer and visited with all of my friends. On the other side of the world, the boy and girl went and tried to earn some money or went to look for food and water for their family.

At night, as I slept in my nice, warm bed, I dreamed of a world filled with freedom for the little boy and girl on the other side of the world.

* I thought that this essay was worth sharing. It makes me realize, once again, that we must never take for granted the freedom that we have in this country.

The Price Of A Desk

I know that we find humor in a lot of things when it comes to kids, and the things they've learned, (or not) but I know that they are capable of learning valuable lessons, especially when they are blessed with teachers like the one in this story. A friend shared it with me, and I think that it is worth sharing with you.

Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock , did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she took all of the desks out of the classroom.

The kids came into first period, they walked in, there were no desks. They obviously looked around and said, "Ms. Cothren, where's our desk?"

Ms. Cothren said, "You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn them."

They thought, "Well, maybe it's our grades."

"No," she said. "Maybe it's our behavior." And she told them, "No, it's not even your behavior."

And so they came and went in the first period, still no desks in the classroom. Second period, same thing, third period, no desks. By early afternoon television news crews had gathered in Ms. Cothren's class to find out about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of the classroom.

The last period of the day, Martha Cothren gathered her class. They were at this time sitting on the floor around the sides of the room. She said, "Throughout the day no one has really understood how you earn the desks that sit in this classroom, ordinarily." She said, "Now I'm going to tell you."

Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it, and as she did, 27 U.S. veterans, wearing their uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. And they placed those school desks in rows, and then they stood along the wall.

And by the time they had finished placing the desks, those kids for the first time, I think perhaps in their lives, understood how they earned those desks.

Martha said, "You don't have to earn those desks. These guys did it for you. They put them out there for you, but it's up to you to sit here responsibly to learn, to be good students and good citizens, because they paid a price for you to have that desk, and don't ever forget it."

I think that was a pretty valuable lesson taught by Martha Cothren, don't you?